Oh, yes. I’m not saying 12 for exaggeration’s sake- this monstrosity of a dessert is twelve moist, crunchy, and amazing layers of beauty. Baklava is traditionally relatively thin- 4-6 layers as a max- and fairly bite-sized. These ones are diamond-esque shaped (hey, I tried) and can happily feed two people as an entire dessert in and of itself. They may be a caloric nightmare, but they’re a tasty dream, so why not treat yourself to one as a special occasion? :)

12-Layer Baklava

Recipe Adapted from Baklava by LolFoodie

Filling Ingredients:

• 1 package (1 lb) organic filo dough
• 2 cups walnuts, whole
• 1.5 heaping cup pistachios, shelled (be liberal on the pistachios, they’re meant to be the star here)
• 1 cup almonds, whole, dry roasted
• 2 sticks of soy butter (sadly you really can’t cut this out, but at least it’s for a whole pan of baklava)
• 2 tsp cinnamon (I put in 3)
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• pinch of nutmeg, cloves, and ginger

Syrup Ingredients:

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup clover honey (or wildflower, if you’ve got it)
• 2/4 cup room-temperature filtered water
• 1 teaspoon freshly-squeezed lemon juice (if you’re Italian, that means 2-3 tbl instead)
• 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, coriander
• a tiny pinch of lemon zest (again, if you’re Italian, go over on that amount (which you would do, anyway))

Process:

1. Syrup first – and it’s going to boggle you as it did I, but it’s okay, trust that this works. Take a medium saucepot and place all the syrup ingredients in it on low heat. Cook this down for 15-20 minutes- the longer you reduce it, the stickier and thicker your syrup will be. I left mine on for a good 20 minutes. Let this sit at room temperature to cool while you prepare the filling – it’ll coagulate and thicken and become glorious.
2. Place walnuts, pistachios, almonds, filling spices and salt in a food processor until appropriately broken down (I liked mine to be on the chunkier side, but yours can be as powder-y as you like) and set aside.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and thoroughly butter all sides (up to the very top) of a baking dish (I used a 9 x 9 pyrex to get the super thickness going- if you’d rather thinner, use a larger rectangular dish)
4. You’re going to have to work quickly here- first, place the remaining butter minus what you used to coat the dish into a microwaveable bowl and mirowave until liquid. Prepare a pastry brush.
5. Take one layer of filo and place it into the bottom of the dish. It’s going to be too big, and that’s all right – just fold the sides. Brush it with butter, and repeat with two more sheets, buttering each time.
6. Spoon on about 3-4 tbl of the nut mixture evenly onto the filo. Then take 3 more filo sheets and add them one at a time, brushing with butter and folding over to fit- or you can cut and trim and just treat them as two sheets each, it’s up to you. Keep repeating this process of filo layering, buttering, and placing the nut mixture, until you place your last 2-3 sheets of filo right on top. Butter the top generously (of course).
7. Place in the oven for 35-45 minutes (depending on the heat of your oven) or until the top is golden brown (see below picture). You can cut them prior to baking if you like, but my father (whom I made these for) suggested cutting after so that they’d be more moist inside. That’s your choice!
8. Remove from oven once golden brown and let sit 5 minutes. Then, using a sharp knife, patience, and gritted teeth, cut them (roughly) into large diamonds. Get your now-thick syrup out and douse the whole thing with all the syrup, making sure to get into all the cracks.
9. Let sit another 15-20 minutes until the syrup is well absorbed. It’ll actually be better the next day once it’s been fully saturated with honeyed goodness, but if you must serve it now, wait a half hour after syruping to ensure moistness all over.

Baklava is my father’s favourite dessert, and I owed him some since months ago :) so this was for him. I think next time I’ll try thinner ones with all pistachio or almost all, at any rate…. but these were delicious and so gargantuan that they made for a fun picture. As a note- the syrup for me was very watery for a long time- hence my cooking it down lengthily- but the second I took it off the heat, it began to thicken- so don’t be alarmed if it takes its time becoming a syrup! Just trust in it.